Colorado Slam grass pioneers, Leftover Salmon, take the outdoor stage at Pisgah Brewing Company for a bluegrass throw down on Sunday, May 26, 2013 in Black Mountain, NC on Memorial Day weekend. The gate opens at 4:30pm with opening performances by Elephant Revival and Dangermuffin Acoustic, and a special late night show in the taproom with Town Mountain. The show begins at 5:30pm and there will be numerous food vendors and local beer on tap.

This is a one of a kind musical experience provided by one of Asheville’s finest craft breweries. The outdoor stage provides an expansive setting for this musical conglomeration. Additionally, ticket buyers will be contributing $2 of each ticket to local nonprofit, Funding America Through Entertainment (FATE), who will funnel the donations to local human service organizations. “At Pisgah Brewing Company, we pride ourselves on our community involvement and outreach. FATE gives us a vehicle to join philanthropy with our concert events,” says Benton Wharton, spokesman for Pisgah Brewery. In January 2013, Pisgah Brewing joined Town Mountain in helping generate food for 6000 meals at a FATE event.

Tickets are available in advance for $24.50 and $30 day of show. A $55 Hopster VIP ticket includes early entry to the event, a private guided tour and tasting, and exclusive VIP viewing area close to stage with cash bar.

DETAILS AT A GLANCE:
Leftover Salmon with Elephant Revival, Dangermuffin AcousticPisgah Brewing Outdoor Stage
Late Night with Town Mountain inside the TaproomSunday, May 26, 2013

Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon is back! NPR’s Mountain Stage heralded Colorado’s Leftover Salmon as “one of the most beloved acts on America’s summer-festival circuit” as they’ve returned from an eight year hiatus touring with their new album Aquatic Hitchhiker [released May 22 on LoS Records]. Exploring new new sonic territory, AOL’s The Boot listed Aquatic Hitchhiker as one of the best Americana albums of this year. Stay tuned for new songs from LoS this summer delivered from Breckenridge Beer!

2012 was a great year for Leftover Salmon hosted an epic block party in downtown Denver, released a behind-the-scenes documentary “Salmonlandia,” toured relentlessly, and scored a spot as Discovery Channel’s first-ever house band on “After the Catch,” the post-show special for the Emmy-winning series “The Deadliest Catch.”

They emerged on the scene in Boulder, CO in 1989 as one of the first bluegrass bands to add drums and tour rock & roll bars, helping Salmon become a pillar of the jam band scene and unwitting architects of the jam grass genre. “This is one fish that has only gotten better with age. Fiery solos and elements of country, bluegrass, jazz and jam rock combine into a heady mix of feel-good tunes — and some that carry a hefty message, as well,” said CMT in 2012.

Elephant Revival

Elephant Revival is a soulful, seductive quiver of songwriters and multi-instrumentalists that reign from points all across America. Since 2006 Daniel Rodriguez, Bonnie Paine, Dango Rose, Sage Cook and Bridget Law have herded in a greatly applauded neo-acoustic and gyptic revival at festivals, theaters, clubs and house concerts from the Pacific coast to the rolling hills of New England. Elephant Revival plays entirely original music with a few carefully chosen traditional and eclectic cover tunes but their precise genre is hard to pin down.

As independent film director Mikey Eberle elaborates, “When I hear Elephant Revival I am struck by my inability to define it. I am forced to confront the music as it is, connecting to it with a virgin spirit of mind. Consequently it feels like I am experiencing music and all its joys for the very first time.”

Dangermuffin Acoustic

On Dangermuffin’s 2010 release Moonscapes, the Folly Beach, S.C. based trio sang about home. Even they couldn’t have expected the extent of that paradox the album grew the band into a traveling national act, with songs on both SiriusXM’s Jam On, Outlaw Country stations, and slots at major festivals across the country. With the release of their latest album in 2012, Olly Oxen Free, Dangermuffin have returned home. No longer easily dubbed an Americana or roots-rock band, the group’s sound encompasses ska, calypso, and even Southern rock, often within the same song. Like the cry bellowed during a children’s game of hide-and-seek, Olly Oxen Free signals that it’s safe to come out from our hiding spots, gather back together, and celebrate late into the evening.

“Don’t let the name fool you- Dangermuffin is not another run-of-the-mill, directionless jamband. Rather, it’s a trio with immense talent and potential that has gifted songwriting and playing abilities in spades. Just like many a funny named band before them- Phish, The String Cheese Incident and Umphrey’s McGee come to mind- Dangermuffin is likely to become synonymous with those fans who love bands that deliver something new and promising each show.” says Josh Baron, editor in chief of Relix Magazine.

Town Mountain

Local Asheville bluegrass brand Town Mountain released their fourth album, Leave the Bottle, in 2012. Always contributing to the evolution of the bluegrass form, they toss influence as varied as surf-rock, gospel, and honky-tonk country into their field of play. Banding together in 2005, Town Mountain is Phil Barker on mandolin and vocals, Robert Greer on lead vocals and guitar guitar, Jesse Langlais on banjo and vocals, Bobby Britt on fiddle, and newest member Jake Hopping rounds them out with his rock-solid bass. One listen to their instantly memorable songs, and it’s plain to see why Grammy-winner Mike Bub would align with the group to produce Leave the Bottle as well as 2011’s Steady Operator.

“Centered around strong, soulful vocals, and poised to stay put,” says Wood Platt of the Steep Canyon Rangers, “Town Mountain are true to bluegrass in all the right ways and this new project keeps them firmly connected to the traditions of the genre, while also allowing them to reach out into the broad horizon of string band music. Leave the Bottle comes highly recommended.”

We are thrilled to announce Peter Rowan will be joining The Mosier Brothers for a series of select shows! Peter Rowan has played in Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman in the supergroup Old & In The Way, and with Tony Rice and a host of other acclaimed musicians throughout his storied career. Now, the Grammy winner joins The Mosier Brothers, the Atlanta band that evolved from the psychedelic hick-hop jamgrass band, Blueground Undergrass.

Rowan says, “I am always ready to collaborate with Jeff Mosier and his fine musicians, to explore the musical tree of Americana-bluegrass roots. We might even find some new branches on the old tree! We can harvest new fruit from old roots!”

Jeff Mosier and Peter Rowan met in 1985 on Mosier’s radio show in Atlanta. Since 1998 they have shared the stage together many times including Suwannee Springfest and Magnolia Festival in Live Oak, Florida. Rowan has always been a key figure in The Mosier Brothers career giving them what Mosier calls “the inspiration to fly between the extremes of traditional and progressive bluegrass music styles, even entering into psychedelic jamgrass and rock.”

The Mosier Brothers, originally from Bristol, Tennessee, have always maintained their “brother sound” amid their various configurations. The solid band sound that Rowan had heard from them over the years, along with their collective stage experience, eclectic musical taste, and genre bending tendencies, created the perfect creative soil in which to forge ahead with a project which both Mosier and Rowan had been thinking about for years. Johnny Mosier’s ability to switch-hit between playing bluegrass with flatpick style guitar, to rock, swing, and jazz on electric guitar, along with Jeff’s unique ability to compose “pick and jam” rock songs on the banjo, are the true ingredients of the “Mosier sound.”

Johnny and Jeff Mosier. Photo by Ian Rawn.

Veterans of the jamband and jamgrass scenes, The Mosier Brothers have been entertaining audiences for over 30 years (longer if you consider pickin’ on the front porch with their family), first with the bluegrass band Good Medicine for 23 years. In the late 1980’s, Jeff Mosier got his first experience playing Rock on the cutting edge of the newly developing jamband scene as a founding member of Col. Bruce Hampton’s Aquarium Rescue Unit, the band that gave him the stage name “Rev.” In 1994 he toured with Phish and tutored them in the ways of bluegrass. The Phish Companion writes “Perhaps no guest artist has had as great an influence on the band’s music as the Rev. Jeff Mosier…”. The brothers re-joined in 1998 in Jeff Mosier’s first nationally known brainchild, Blueground Undergrass, one of the earliest bands to merge bluegrass instruments and traditional tunes with the magnetic energy of Rock n Roll. Then, in 2010, they formed The Mosier Brothers which more finely blends the traditional bluegrass sound of Good Medicine and the jamming of Blueground Undergrass into a more song-driven Americana roots rock unit, all while remaining an eclectic endeavor.

For these “Roots and Branches” shows, Peter Rowan and The Mosier Brothers will be performing an A-Z retrospective of Rowan’s musical career.

Peter Rowan. Photo by Ronald Rietman.

The band will take the audience on a musical journey that builds throughout the evening, starting with the traditional bluegrass of Rowan’s days with Bill Monroe in the 1960’s, then leading into the progressive bluegrass years of Old and In The Way, Crucial Country, and The Free Mexican Air Force. The result: a night of life-affirming songs with rich melodies and harmonies, all led by the compelling stories of Peter Rowan that will serve as the backdrop for each musical number. Of that, Mosier says, “I think people really want and need to hear ‘songs’ now more than ever, and more importantly, the stories that inspired them.”

Mosier continues, “We can go anywhere Peter wants to go musically with this show, because his career helped mold our own musical taste. He’s been such a major influence on us. He’s like our Bill Monroe and Beatles all in one. The Monroe generation of players spawned the Rowan generation, and the Rowan generation spawned the Mosier generation, no doubt.”

Johnny Mosier adds, “After years of enjoying Rowan’s music from the audience, to actually perform with him on stage is a true joy and career high for me.”

Peter Rowan and The Mosier Brothers will be both acoustic and electric for each performance, as will their band of Kris Dale on bass, Edward Hunter on fiddle, and Will Groth on drums. The Rowan/Mosier recipe will give the songs a new spin while keeping the original flavor, in what promises to be one of the tastiest of musical collaborations.

Sanders, Pond, Caradine, and Sipe at LAAFF 2010. Photo by Bright Life Photography

Jay Sanders (Bass), Bill Cardine (Dobro), Andy Pond (Banjo) and Jeff Sipe (drums) are four of the most celebrated talents in Western North Carolina. To list all of the amazing projects these four musicians have been a part of would take away from the magic that occurs when they combine their spirited efforts. The Porous Borders of Music was an experience that brought together the musical talents of Andy Pond and Bill Cardine and could easily describe their continued odyssey as they expand upon infinite creative horizons.

These videos are from the quartets first show on Sept 2nd 2010 at the Pisgah Brewery outdoor venue in Swannanoa, NC.

Amelia’s Mechanics is fronted by Greensboro, NC singer-songwriter’s Molly McGinn and Molly Miller, and backed by a talented group of musicians out of Nashville, TN. Despite what the oil-and-iron name might suggest, the women of Amelia’s Mechanics swap that toughness for a more urban, sophisticated take on Americana music, using luxuriating harmonies and classical swells to temper their lyrical frustrations with love and life. The instrumentation and vocal harmonies of Amelia’s Mechanics result in a genre-busting sound best described as “vintage country with a moonshine concerto.”

The band released their debut album “North, South,” produced by Jim Avett (father of The Avett Brothers) in February of 2010 to critical acclaim and embarked on an inaugural spring tour to the delight of audiences all across the southeastern United States. Amelia’s Mechanics will begin recording a follow-up album this summer in Asheville, NC at the wonderful Echo Mountain Studios (whose client list includes Smashing Pumpkins, The Avett Brothers, Band of Horses) with the Asheville-based, Grammy-winning producer Steven Heller and fellow Greensboro, NC singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett at the helm. A release date has not yet been set for the new album, so stay tuned to their website for more info.